Guard rail construction



Feb. 16,1943. w, s, FERGUSON 2,311,221

GUARD RAIL CONSTRUCTION Filed Dec. 31, 1940 I@I O O IIQ H FIG." 2

- INVENTOR WILLIAM S. FERGUSON ATTORNEYS Patented Feb. 16, 1943 arm orricE 2,311,221 GUARD RAIL CONSTRUCTION William S. Ferguson, Shaker Heights, Ohio Application December 31, 1940, Serial No. 372,596

' (o1. ass-13.1)

Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in guard rail construction and, more particularly to a spring take-up assembly adapted to tension the longitudinally alined strips forming the guard rail.

While I do not wish to limit my invention strictly to the form herein. disclosed, nevertheless the chief use for my invention is in connection with guards rails'such as are installed in many places along the highways for protecting vehicles moving oh the travelled road to the sides thereof. Such guard rails normally consist of longitudinally alined rail members such as flat steel strips arranged with their fiat faces vertical. It is generally the custom to specify that these strips shall be placed under longitudinal tension both for the purpose of maintaining the rail taut under varying temperature conditions and to provide some resilient resistance when a vehicle strikes the rail. A customary requirement is that the tensioning means should provide one inch longitudinal movement per hundred feet of guardrail. This requires a strong construction providing considerable longitudinal movement, in any installation and providing varying amounts of longitudinal movement depending upon the adjacent length of guard rail. For instance if the spring is effective on a two hundred and fifty foot length of rail, then two and one-half inches of spring movement must be provided, whereas if the rail length is five hundred feet, then double that movement is necessary.

An object of the present invention is to provide spring 'tensioning means for longitudinally alined rails which meets the above requirements by providing an abundance of spring movement and preferably at the same time providing a powerful spring adapted to tension a long stretch of guard rail so that fewer take-up assemblies are necessary.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a plurality of springs detachably arranged in an assembly, together with means for connecting them to the rails arranged at predetermined distances so that nonresilient members may be substituted for one or more springs, thus giving a standard construction permitting of various types of assembly so as to take care of the varying amounts of spring movement necessary to be supplied in diiferent installations.

Another object of the invention is to provide I all of the above mentioned characteristics in a spring assembly adapted to lie closely alined to the flat steel strips normally used in this type of guard rail.

Other objects and advantages will appear from the accompanying drawing and description and the essential features thereof will be set forth in the claims.

In the drawing, Fig. l is a sectional view looking downwardly on the guard rail of Fig. 2; Fig. 2 is a front elevational view of the guard rail of Fig. l with parts thereof broken away to more clearly show the construction; while Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig. 1 showing a nonresilient member substituted for one of the springs.

Guard rails are normally mounted upon a series of posts along the side of the highway which are indicated at [0 here. To these posts are connected longitudinally alined rail members H which are here shown as wide flat strips mounted with their flat faces vertical. The connection between the strips and the posts may vary, the form here shown comprising brackets i2 of a type more fully described and claimed in my copending application Serial No. 372,594, filed December 31, 1940. This mounting comprises slots Ha in therail and bolts l3 passing through the slots and secured in the resilient metal brackets 52. This bolt and slot connection permits relative longitudinal movement of the strip past the bracket connection.

Where the rail ends meet they are assembled in overlapping relationship by the pin and slot connection shown herein at M, I5. The spring take-up assembly is associated with these overlapping ends in a manner to urge the strips II- in overlapping direction.

In the form shown in Figs. 1 and 2, a plurality of springs iii are secured to each other by the connection l1 and are detachably connected by threaded hook members l8 to abutment members [9 which in turn are secured to the strips H near their overlapping ends. Each abutment !9 has a shoulder l9a extending at right angles to the strip H with an inturned flange Nib riveted or bolted to the strip. An inclined bracing member I slopes from the outer end of shoulder [9a inwardly toward the strip and toward the free end thereof to the point 25 where it is riveted or bolted to the strip. From the point 2! to the end of the strip II at 25 the member I9 is welded to strip H giving a strip of double thickness at this point to develop the full tension strength of strip H. Where as here shown the abutment member i9 is a fiat strip of substantially the same vertical dimension as the strips I I, it is cut away as indi cated at l9d to permit the springs I5 to pass at least partially through these openings so that the springs lie close to the back faces of the strips II.

In the specialized form of construction here disclosed, an arrangement is shown for detachably connecting a plurality of the springs I6 in series to make the complete assembly. The form shown here places these springs in compression but those familiar with this art will understand how the same results might be achieved using tension springs. As here shown each hook member I8 engages the closed end of a U-shape clip 2I which passes through the center of the helical spring I6 and has its free ends turned outwardly as at ZIa. to overlie the last coil of the spring. A similar U-shape clip 22 is connected with the member IT at its closed end and has its free ends bent outwardly at 22a to overlie the other end coil of the spring I6. Thus with the parts assembled as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, the springs I6 urge the strips ll in overlapping direction and any tendency of the strips II to move outwardly from the joint I4, I5 is resisted b-y springs I6 being placed in greater compression.

Where necessary or desirable to decrease the longitudinal movement supplied by the spring take-up assembly, the modified form shown in Fig. 3 may be used. Here similar parts have been given similar reference characters, the only difference being that in place of the right-hand spring I6 of Figs. 1 and 2 there has been provided a nonresilient member 23. This is simply an elongated rod provided with a hook 23a adapted to engage the left-hand spring It in place of the member II previously described. The rod 23 is adjustably mounted in the abutment means I9 where the tension may be ad justed by the nut 24. To permit the substitution of the member 23 for one of the springs I5 of Figs. 1 and 2, the abutment means I9 are spaced apart on the two ends of the meeting strips II at a predetermined standard distance so that a standard member 23 may be substituted for one of the springs as shown in Fig. 3.

It will be noted in Fig. 2 that the spring assembly described in Fig. 1 is duplicated placing a second assembly, one vertically alined above or below the other so as to provide equal tension on all portions of the strips II without buckling. Obviously the invention is applicable no matter how many such assemblies are utilized at one point.

One of the advantages of my above described invention is that it places the springs I6 close to the rear faces of the flat guard rails so that the tension is transmitted to the overlapping strips as nearly as possible in alinement with those strips while at the same time providing an unbroken face of the strip II on the side toward the highway.

Referring to Figs. 1 and 2, I desire to call attention to the fact that I have provided double plate thickness at every place where the connection between the strips II requires perforation of the strips. For instance, the flanges I9b provide a double thickness at the point where the rivets attach these flanges to the strip II and as previously commented upon the portion of-member I9 between the points 20 and 25] and in fact extending a little back of the rivets at the point 20 provide a double thickness both where the rivets 20 pass through the strips II and at the points where the bolts I4 connect the slotted ends of the strips together. It results from this construction that when an impact occurs caused by a vehicle striking against the strips I I at any point where the strips are placed under tension so as to stretch the pin and slot connection I4, I5 to its limit, at the time that the bolts I4 engage against the ends of the slots I5 there is a double thickness of metal in connection with each strip II engaging against the bolts I4 in shear. The bolts I4 are sufiicient in number and diameter so that at this time they are able to transmit the full tensional stress which the strips II are adapted to withstand anywhere along the line.

Another feature of my invention is the provision of the spring take-up here disclosed at an intermediate point of a long guard rail, each end of which is fastened. In assembling such a strip in its entirety, the difiiculty is sometimes encountered in pulling the strip taut without putting considerable initial tension on whatever spring means is relied upon in association with the tensioning medium. In the present instance with the spring assembly here disclosed located at some intermediate portion of the guard rail and provided with the adjusting nuts ISa on the ends of the members I3, it is possible when the rail is first installed to draw up on the nuts IBa just sufiiciently to pull the strips I I taut at each side of the spring assembly while placing very little tension in the springs I6. It results from this construction that the full stretch of springs I6 is available when a vehicle hits the guard rail.

What I claim is:

1. In combination, two alined elongated rail members having overlapping ends, means connecting said ends for limited relative movement longitudinally of said rail members, abutment means near said ends, one on each rail member, a plurality of springs detachably connected together in series assembly between said abutment means urging said ends in overlapping direction, said abutment means being spaced apart a predetermined standard distance, whereby a non resilient member of standard length may be substituted for one of said springs for varying the total deflection provided in the spring assembly.

2. In combination, two alined elongated rail members having overlapping ends, means connecting said ends for limited relative movement longitudinally of said rail -members, abutment means near said ends, one on each rail member, each abutment means having a shoulder portion extending substantially at right angles to its associated rail member, spring means secured between said shoulder portions of both abutment means in a manner to urge said rail member ends in overlapping direction, said spring means including a helical spring lying close to one of said rail members with its axis substantially parallel thereto, and said abutment means having bracing portions extending from the outer end of said shoulder portion on opposite sides of said spring means toward the end of the associated rail member where said bracing portions are rigidly secured to the said rail member.

3. In combination, two alined elongated rail members having overlapping ends, means connecting said ends for limited relative movement longitudinally of said rail members, abutment means near said ends, one on each rail member, a spring assembly connected between said abutment means and urging said rail members in overlapping direction, and said assembly comprising in series between said abutment means a detachable connector between one abutment means and a helical spring, a helical spring, a detachable connector between said spring and a second helical spring, a second helical spring, and a detachable connector between said second helical spring and said other abutment means.

4. A highway guard comprising two alined elongated rail members having overlapping ends, each member being a flat strip positioned with its flat face vertical, abutment means near said ends, one on each rail member, spring means connected between said abutment means in a manner to urge said ends in overlapping direction, each of said abutment means comprising a second strip having a portion welded to said fiat face of the associated rail member at its overlapping end, there being registering slots in said overlapping ends through said rail members and second strip portions, and bolts through said ment means and urging said rail members in overlapping direction, said assembly comprising in series between said abutment means a detachable connector between one abutment means and a helical spring, a helical spring, and a detachable connector between said helical spring and said other abutment means, said abutment means holding said helical spring parallel to and close to the rear face of said overlapping rail members.

WILLIAM S. FERGUSON. 

